Mary-Lynn Cesar, Kapitall: Last Tuesday, MSCI downgraded Greece from developed to emerging market status, placing the long-struggling nation in the company of newly upgraded Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This move marks the first time that the financial index provider has demoted a country from developed market status.

While MSCI relegation appears to be the latest piece of bad news in Greece’s ongoing economic saga, some view it as a promising opportunity. The Financial Times reports that the emerging market index will give Greece a higher weighting and exposure to less risk-averse investors, which HSBC projects could lead to more than $1 billion in investments.

Investor sentiment is featured heavily in the conversation surrounding Greece’s emerging market potential. This inspired us to look for promising high-yield Greek dividend stocks based with the backing of institutional investors.

We began our screen with a universe of Greek stocks that offer a dividend between 3% and 7%. We limit our yields to a maximum of 7% because companies can have a hard time sustaining high payouts, especially if they are hit with a few bad quarters.

Finally, we narrowed our group down to those stocks with bullish sentiment from institutional investors, which is reflected in significant net institutional purchases over the last quarter representing at least 5% of share float. These purchases indicate that institutional investors, such as hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers, expect these stocks to outperform into the future.

We were ultimately left with three shipping stocks.

The List

Would you follow smart money trends and invest in these Greek stocks? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.